She's Like a Piece of Home

Raleigh had managed to slide away from Luka after almost an hour of confusing conversation. Not confusing because she couldn’t understand him. Confusing because it was easier to talk to him than she wanted it to be. More confusing because she found herself drawn to him, to those dark brown eyes that yes, definitely matched his hair. She was trying to be polite when he had started talking to her, mostly because she was conscious of the fact that her behavior would reflect on her sister. There was so much more pressure now that she knew that Cami and Quinn were actually friends with several people here.

He was charming in such a friendly, goofy way that he had quickly disarmed her. It had actually shocked her. That was why she had to get away from him. She needed to regroup, because she couldn’t let herself fall into that trap. Everything about this would only end badly, she was certain of that.

She adjusted the navy blue Asquith loose tank vest top so that the bottom hem covered more of her hips. She had paired the tank with snug white pants and flat sandals. When they had arrived, she soon realized she should have picked a pair of heels. She was fairly certain that everyone stood at least a few inches taller than her. And although she knew she was on the shorter side of average height for a woman, she felt like a midget here.

“Hey, glad to see you came!" A bright, sunny voice cheerfully said behind her.

“Huh?” Raleigh looked over her shoulder and saw Molly only feet away. “Oh, hi,” she said softly when raven haired woman joined her at the railing facing the opposite direction towards the rest of the guests on the patio.

She was dressed casually in a white tank top that was tucked into a high-waist ivory and red paisley printed maxi skirt. The skirt swished around her ankles as she crossed her legs at her ankles. The brunette turned around and leaned against the rail with her. Her fingers tightly gripped the Smirnoff bottle feeling slightly anxious. The only glimpse she had experienced of Molly was at the event the week before and she was so smooth in her talking, Raleigh was actually worried she’d up spilling her guts to a total stranger. Molly’s warm smile had a quick way of relaxing her and she found herself smiling back.

“Are you having a nice time?” Molly asked, still smiling, and then took a small sip of the beer in her hand.

“Um, I guess.” She gave an apologetic shrug. “This isn't really my scene.”

“Yeah, your sister mentioned before that you kind of steer clear of professional sports. Something to do with your dad.”

Her cheeks flushed. What the hell, Cami? What did she tell her? She didn’t want people to know, especially not this group. She looked at the ground and held the bottle even tighter in front of her. “Something like that.”

They watched the groups mingling for a few minutes. Raleigh spotted Luka in a cluster of guys, laughing about something. The corners of his eyes crinkled when he laughed and he had dimples. No. No…stop noticing details. Details are bad, she scolded herself.

“You know,” Molly voice drew her back and turned to face her, hoping it wasn’t obvious that she was staring at the tall Russian. “I have to say I'm impressed. I don't think I've seen Luka talk to anyone as much as he talks to you. At least… not in English.”

Raleigh gave her a confused stare. “What are you talking about? He's talking right now,” she added, gesturing toward the group he was with.

Molly shook her head with a slight smile, her jet-black hair swinging back and forth. “No, he's not,” she argued. “He's listening. Look.” She tilted her head towards him, forcing Raleigh to look at him again. Both women watched as Luka nodded and shook his head several times, but rarely opened his mouth. When he did, it was easy to see that very little was said to the group he was surrounded by. “He's a listener, not a talker,” Molly insisted. She slid the beer bottle between her fingers, staring at it for a few minutes before speaking again. “He's not like the rest of them, you know? They're all good guys, maybe do some stupid stuff sometimes, but still a really good group of guys. Luka though, he's one of my closest friends. He's a great guy.”

“You don't have to sell me on him...” She was quiet as she looked at her feet and toed at the ground. “I'm just... not interested.”

“Are you sure?" Raleigh slid a glace to her right in time to see Molly raise a perfectly plucked eyebrow. She nodded in response. “Looks a bit different from here, but okay. I won't push you and tell you all the amazing things about him,” she added with a playful wink.

The brunette managed to crack a smile and snicker. “Thanks," she added appreciatively and praying that she really meant it. She took a tiny sip of the drink she had spent most of the night nursing and looked around the patio. “Carter's house is really nice.”

“That's because of Paige,” Molly said jovially. “Carter couldn't match two shades of black if he tried.”

Molly said it in such an endearing tone that Raleigh let out a soft laugh and then quickly added, “That seems kind of harsh.”

“Oh,” Molly sipped her beer before continuing, “you'd understand if he didn't have Paige here to keep him together. Speaking of,” she paused and looked around. “I wonder where she slipped off to. You need to meet her.”

This was bad. She didn’t want to be introduced to anyone. She just wanted to get through this night and head home so she could start forgetting Luka. Sensing that she was already trying to work her into the group, so she quickly asked the first thing she could think of. “I'm curious, how did you and Luka meet? Through Alex?”

Molly put her hand to heart. “Oh, no! Luka actually introduced me to Alex. I met Luka when I was going to Pitt. I ran into him, literally, when I was leaving class. He was taking a class to help his English. I heard his accent and selfishly jumped at the chance to have a friend who could help me with Russian, looking back I have no idea why I didn't pick something like Spanish to fulfill my foreign language requirement, but,” she smiled, her eyes crinkling slightly and let out a tiny, almost inaudible sigh, “it seems things always work out the way they should.” She shook her head as though realizing she was staring at her boyfriend like a lost puppy. Raleigh couldn’t resist the tiny grin that had crossed her lips. It was clear to her how much Molly cared for Alex. She couldn’t help but wonder how Molly was able to trust him so easily. “Anyway, I think Luka appreciated having someone help him with his English as well.”

“That’s really sweet. You’re lucky.”

Molly shrugged, but couldn’t hide her bashful grin. “I like to think so.”

Molly’s eyes suddenly lit up as she looked across the patio. Raleigh followed her gaze and spotted a pretty brunette in a simple teal dress that stopped mid-thigh and was accented with wide, tan belt. “Oh, good! Julia’s here. Com’on, you’ve gotta meet her. She’s a total sweetheart.”

Raleigh barely managed to set her bottle down next to Molly’s before Molly grabbed her hand and pulled her towards this Julia. The brunette let go of the hand she was holding when she spotted Molly. Auburn hair fell in shiny waves over her shoulders and her electric blue eyes shone brightly as wide grin broke on her face.

“Moll! I’ve missed you!” Her voice had a singsong tone it. Raleigh looked her over quickly again. She seemed to be the most normal looking one here. Though it seemed the distinction of ‘normal’ really meant nothing here as she was still striking. They exchanged a hug and as Julia broke away, her eyes fell to Raleigh. “Hello there, I’m Julia. And you are?” There was a tiny southern drawl there as well.

Raleigh gave a small wave as the girls parted. “Raleigh. Hi.”

Molly was leaning over, whispering into Julia’s ear. Julia leaned back and stared at Molly quizzically, to which Molly only nodded. Raleigh shifted uncomfortably as Julia gave her a quick onceover. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Raleigh,” she said as she extended her hand.

She shook it nervously. “Nice to meet you, too.”

Suddenly, she was nudging her counterpart, who stood, back to them, in a gray and white baseball style long sleeve shirt, which was pushed up at past his forearms and a pair of dark khaki shorts. The skin revealed on his right arm displayed a large amount of ink. “Babe, turn around. You need to meet someone.”

He peered down over his shoulder to his fiancé, Raleigh assumed as she had spotted the large diamond on her ring finger. “Huh?”

“Turn around.” She poked at his waist again. Raleigh’s breath caught when he turned to face them. There was something so familiar about him, she was sure she knew him. But where the hell would she know a hockey player, if he was a hockey player, from? She saw a brief flash of recognition in his eyes. Good. He noticed too. “This is Raleigh,” Julia was talking again. Her eyes snapped to the brunette, who was still smiling brightly. “Raleigh, this is Matt Hall. He plays for the Pens also.”

“Hey.” Matt said, still looking at her curiously. He must have recognized her, because the corner of his mouth tugged upwards.

Now, there was only one Matt Hall that she had known in her life and she doubted that she’d ever forget him. Even if it had been years. She studied him, her mind working in overdrive as she dug into her memories trying to assure herself that it was in fact him. He was one of the few people she had ever considered herself particularly close to in childhood. Moving around so much didn’t exactly lend itself to making life long friendships as a kid.

“Raleigh Shannon,” she offered quietly. Perhaps she was imaging it and he didn’t recognize her.

“Shannon?” He perched an eyebrow. “As in named for her father, the great Riley Shannon?”

She could barely contain the grin growing on her face, he definitely knew her. “That’s right, Matty.” The childhood nickname slipped out without a second thought.

“I thought so, Lee-lee.” His lips twisted into a smirk. Yes, it was still the same Matty that she had known from Denver, but he had grown. A lot. He towered over her, but the same mop of brown hair sat on his head, although at least it was styled now. The same reassuring aquamarine eyes stared at her.

“So, uh, you got taller,” she noted without thinking.

“And you haven’t,” he retorted quickly with that same innocent, boyish smile playing on his lips. She was unable to wipe her own smile off her face as she found herself relaxing for the first time since she woke up that morning dreading this party.

“Hey, how’s your sister?”

“She’s good. I’m surprised you two haven’t crossed paths. She’s here.” She looked over her shoulder until she found the sea foam green tank top and flowy brown and white skirt. “Minty green top and brown skirt.”

He peered over her head, his mouth partially open and his brow furrowed, his blue eyes quickly finding her before returning back to Raleigh. “That’s Camilla? I barely recognized her.”

The corner of her lip twitched as she lifted an eyebrow. “But you remember me?”

“I wasn’t friends with Camilla.” Those eyes were focused intently on her, making as much of a statement as what he had just said.

“It’s Cami now,” she commented trying to appear nonchalant, twisting a finger on the hem of her blouse. “Don’t let her hear you call her Camilla. She hates it.”

“Noted.”

“How – how do you two know each other?” Julia’s voice, just the tiniest pinch of anxiety present, abruptly popped up.

“Oh!” Suddenly, there were other people there again and they looked confused. She had gotten momentarily wrapped up in her excitement. Here was someone from her childhood. Someone from before everything was terrible. “Matty and – ”

“It’s Matt,” Julia corrected her quietly. Raleigh flushed and passed a nervous glance to Matt. He gave her a small apologetic grin.

“Only my mom calls me Matty now. Kind of outgrew that name a bit.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels.

“Oh, right! Sorry. Matt and I lived on the same cul-de-sac in Denver. I moved there when I was,” she paused trying to remember.

“You were six,” Matt stated with unmistakable confidence. She bit the inside of her lip as he recounted it, shocked that he recalled it from so long ago. “I remember. You announced loudly to the neighborhood that your birthday was the day before.”

*
She had made an impact, even at six. Loud and in charge. That was the Raleigh Shannon he remembered. His mother had thought she was adorable and had dragged him to the store to buy her a present that night, it was one of the few fights he had had with his mother in his life. He only remembered it because he had been so adamant to buy her a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle; she was wearing their shirt he had argued. His born-and-raised southern mother clung to the fact that she was little girl and little girls should not be playing with boy toys. He ultimately won.

“Yeah,” she said quietly and a faint blush crept onto her cheeks. He wondered if she remembered as well. “We moved again when I was nine. You know, my dad had to replace the garage door because of you.”

Matt let out a loud heartfelt laugh. Her dad was intimidating, but had been somewhat forgiving. He’d never forget Riley Shannon’s parting words to him, ‘If you want to be a hockey player, you go after it with everything in you. You never give up. Promise me that and I won’t tell your parents this is your fault.’ And so he did, one part terrified that Mr. Shannon wouldn’t hesitate to tell his parents just how much damage his slap shot had done to their door and one part, fully meaning it. There was nothing he wanted more in life when he was ten. “Your dad kind of – ”

“Now, babe, don’t hog her,” Julia interrupted. He glanced down to see a slightly worried look on his fiancé’s face. It wasn’t that he forgot that she was there, but seeing Raleigh again was pretty amazing. When her dad was traded, he was positive that he’d never see her again, despite knowing how close their mothers were. As a teenager, his thoughts were confirmed when her mother had passed away and his own mother spoke of her less and less. Julia continued talking, a forced smile on her face, once she was sure she had his attention again. “I’m sure Molly has other people to introduce her to and Luka’s probably waiting for her.”

“Oh, yeah,” Molly suddenly agreed, “we still have to find Paige.”

Matt raised an eyebrow. He didn’t know why he was surprised that she was there with his linemate, but he was. “You’re here with Luka?”

“Well, I’m not here with Luka.” She gestured over her shoulder. “I’m here with Cami.”

He made a mental note to talk with Luka later, to make sure his intentions with Raleigh were more than what he usually went for. Although Luka was a good guy, it was no secret that he didn’t date Americans. He nearly laughed to himself. They had only reconnected for a whole fifteen minutes and he was already trying to be her big brother again. He was still going to talk to Luka though.

“We should go find Paige.” Molly was tugging on her arm now, but she was making no effort to move. Her feet planted to the ground in front of him. The look on her face was more than just excitement at meeting an old friend; she appeared relieved.

“We’ll have to catch up later,” he offered sincerely, unaffected by Molly and Julia’s insistence that they both go in opposite directions. It was on these words that Raleigh then did something he hadn’t expected. She hugged him. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her in tight. There was something so right about that moment that he was completely oblivious to the astonished look on Julia’s pretty face and the hurt in her crystal blue eyes.

“It was really good seeing you again,” Lee-lee, no Raleigh, said softly as they backed away from each other. They weren’t kids anymore. She wasn’t little Lee-lee.

“Well, if you’re with Luka, I’m sure we’ll see you again soon.” They had been playing on the same line for two years and occasionally would go out together. He knew how persistent Luka could be when he wanted something. And if that something was Raleigh, he would likely win. Raleigh, he felt, wouldn’t be here unless she was curious.

Her nose scrunched and she shook her head. “Oh, but I’m not – ”

“Yet, but you will be,” he said with a wink. Julia’s fingers slid down his forearm and she intertwined them with his. His arm flinched just enough that he was sure she had to have noticed. He attempted to continue on, trying to play it off. “We’ll definitely talk again soon.”

“Okay… See you,” he heard her mumble as Julia pulled him towards the yard. He was positive he’d hear about this. Just one more thing she’d find wrong with him. He just hoped she’d save it until they got home. Or hopefully he’d be able to distract her enough to forget about it. Sometimes it worked.

“He’s a good guy, Lee-lee,” he called over his shoulder. Her big hazel eyes were following him. She’d always be Lee-lee. He’d never be able to convince himself otherwise.

*
After Julia and Matt had parted ways, Raleigh made a beeline for Cami. Molly couldn’t blame her. The odds of finding a childhood friend here, of all places? She understood the shock of it. Hell, even she was speechless by the turn of events and by Raleigh’s reaction. She lit up so quickly. Molly was worried for a second that they had actually forgotten that she and Julia were still standing there.

Luka was waiting for her by the time she made her way over to him. He stepped out of his circle and guided her off to the side. Molly retrieved her beer, taking a sip still trying to figure it out.

“She talk to Hallsy?” Luka asked curiously. “She seem excited.”

Molly frowned. “Yeah, it was kind of weird, though.”

His brow furrowed as he leaned against the railing. “What do you mean?”

“They know each other.” He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but closed it again. “Yeah, apparently they were neighbors as kids for a few years in Denver. They were both really excited to see each other.”

“So is good then, right? She know someone. Maybe relax now.” He sounded hopeful. She wanted him to be right. He was looking around her, she assumed for Raleigh.

“Well, he did give you a recommendation as Julia pulled him away.”

“See? Good.” He pushed himself off the rail and patted Molly’s shoulder as he passed her. “Hallsy always helps.”